Sunday, February 11, 2007

Anna Nicole Was a Sticky Idea

I just finished watching CBS Sunday Morning. A fine program. But when it came time for one of the journalists to enlighten us as to why we shouldn't care about Anna Nicole, my eyes started to glaze over real quick. I don't need to be lectured about why we all need to pay attention to the massive events going on in the world, and why news rooms need to play down this event. I know exactly why Anna Nicole is such a big deal and it's astonishing that our highly sophisticated media can't get their collective heads around this.

Anna Nicole wasn't just a person, she was an idea. In fact, she was an idea that stuck. Yes, I'm applying language from the book Made To Stick, which I am working my way through right now. In it—the Heath brothers tell the story of how Bill Clinton's tendency to over complicate was his Achilles heel. That is until James Carville came up with this little sticky idea:

"It's the economy stupid"

Anna Nicole's life, legacy and now legend can be summed up in similar fashion:

"It's the bombshell stupid"

Whether we agree with Anna's lifestyle choices, appearance or celebrity is irrelevant. For the record, I didn't agree with any of it and I have heaps of sympathy for any soul who is that lost—but none of this really matters when we ponder if this is newsworthy.

Anna was a symbol.

A comprehensive symbol of human imperfection, glamor, excess, over-indulgence, and to the bombshell label—explosive life which never stopped detonating.

So, as we attempt to over-complicate Anna's passing and whether we should be paying attention or not—you might as well face this fact. Anna's persona stuck—whether we like it or not.